Unfolding As I Go - Carole's travel blog

It's cousin time again. Let's hit the museum and that cool mirror piece in the 'Light' exhibit. Laura lives in Denver and works at the Denver Art Museum, she takes care of the art pieces for their conservation, cleans them and stores them in very special ways to best preserve them and gets to see everything behind the scenes. Earlier this year was the big Monet exhibit and she was dusting the Monet paintings everyday! So on her day off, she super kindly offered to take me for a tour in the museum. So of course we went to the hall of mirrors,  “Corridor #2” by Lucas Samaras, 1970. It is an impressive walk through the mirror gallery with the light and reflection effects, a surreal space. It is also  selfie- and picture-heaven so I end up wanting to go through more than once. The one rule is to NOT touch the mirrors! The whole rest of the exhibit is actually fascinating, especially the way the curator and artistic team have presented the art pieces and placed them i...

It's my favorite thing: peanut butter. But tough to get by in a package-free way when living in Europe. So it is such a pleasure in the US to find the local bulk shop where they have an actual peanut grinder to get instant peanut butter in our own jar! To top if off, the organic raw honey dispenser is right next to it. I'm glad my grandmother has plenty of containers in the right size I need to get just the perfect amount for the 10 days I'm spending here. And even better, my cousin Laura is with me to have lots of fun during the whole process, her first time shopping bulk and discovering the joys of filling up our own jars. Thanks to the Fort Collins Zero Waste Group on Facebook, led by Katie who responded very fast with recommendations of where to shop bulk while I was in town. For those who don't know me that well yet: I've taken on the zero-waste lifestyle since 2016, co-created the Zero Waste Basel group and when living in Basel managed to have ver...

First stop after Costa Rica: Colorado, USA! Just one hour north of Denver lies the town of Fort Collins where my grandmother, aunt, uncles and cousins live, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. They all moved there from Iowa as a family in the 1950s when my mother was  a child . That's where I get my US mother tongue and citizenship. Both my US grandparents were born and raised on farms in the Iowa countryside, growing corn and soy beans. Three years without seeing my grandmother was just too long and I decided to take an extra flight on my way to Bali and additional stop-over in Colorado. And I'm so glad I did! I got to: - spend nice time with everyone of the family; - go on a beautiful sunny afternoon hike up Poudre Canyon with my aunt and uncle through snow, ice and creeks; - bake bread with Grandma; - hang out with cousin Laura and Kyle; - look at old pictures of childhood (mine and my grandmother's as well); - listen to the brand new composition of my uncle ...